After cleaning up Erebus and the rest of his followers, Lorgar began preparing to form his own army.
The Emperor would not arrive for another half a year or so, and Lorgar intended to use this time to build a foundation loyal to himself.
At the same time, he was also studying his own body, trying to understand the power that resided within it.
Sure enough, during his training, Lorgar awakened a psychic ability — he could peer into a person's soul and determine whether they were corrupted.
He also found a perfect candidate for his first company commander.
It was a sixteen-year-old youth from the honor guard, skilled in combat and kind-hearted by nature.
Lorgar had sent people to watch him and discovered that the boy was supporting several younger siblings on his own. The sight moved him.
After confirming through a psychic probe that the boy's soul was pure, Lorgar decided that this young man would become his trusted aide.
The one who would replace that useless Kor Phaeron and lead the First Company of the Word Bearers.
Lorgar was already calculating the Emperor's arrival and the coming rebellion of Horus.
The Emperor had found him around the 857th year of the 30th Millennium, and Horus' rebellion broke out in the 4th year of the 31st.
The Great Crusade began in M30.798, and by now only a quarter of it had passed.
He still had plenty of time to grow in strength before the coming storm. In the meantime, there were several key events he had to intervene in.
Most important among them was the issue with Angron.
Knowing the Emperor's personality, it was no wonder Angron had been driven to rebellion. As a transmigrator, Lorgar felt he had to help in some way.
But the next major event on his timeline was the Rangdan Xenocides in M30.890 — a brutal campaign where the Astartes were crushed like fools and an entire Legion was wiped out.
Lorgar had no intention of getting involved in that mess. Let them fight it out. The Word Bearers would focus on building numbers.
As his thoughts settled, a thin but determined-looking youth appeared before him.
"You are Heracles, aren't you?" Lorgar bent down slightly, smiling.
"Archbishop…" Heracles lowered his head, unable to meet Lorgar's gaze.
"I've heard you're supporting your younger brothers and sisters all on your own," Lorgar said softly. "Would you be interested in working for me? In return, your family will be well provided for."
Lorgar didn't bother with pretenses.
As the ruler of the entire planet, there was no need to talk in circles — and he already knew from his investigation that Heracles desperately needed this chance.
"I'm willing, my lord! I would give my life for you!" Heracles answered without hesitation.
He had been allowed to join the honor guard at just sixteen because of his fearlessness and his will to fight. He wasn't afraid of death — because his family depended on him.
By binding their fates together, Lorgar ensured Heracles' absolute loyalty.
And once he was transformed into an Astartes later, things would only get easier.
Next came the purge — a complete cleansing of the Covenant Church.
The Night of Blood had begun.
If Lorgar hadn't possessed such immense power, he might have planned more cautiously or worked from the shadows.
But with his overwhelming strength and intellect, he came to a simple, perfect conclusion:
Forget strategy — just smash everything.
Boom!
Lorgar led his soldiers straight into the Covenant's grand cathedral. Wielding a massive mace, he charged at the front of the formation. Every believer that stood in his way was reduced to a mist of blood.
He didn't even bother to use his weapon properly — just the sheer force of his charge annihilated the thousand-strong congregation before him.
....
Tens of thousands of surviving zealots fled to the southern hemisphere and seized a city, declaring Lorgar a heretic.
They accused him of killing the priests Erebus and Kor Phaeron, proclaiming him an enemy of the Covenant — one who must die.
Of course, almost no one on Colchis cared. Most of the major cities were under Lorgar's control.
The remote, impoverished regions barely received news from the outside world, so hardly anyone paid attention to the rebels.
It wasn't until a few days later that Lorgar finally responded.
"These traitors dare rise against me now? They are no longer mere heretics. They must be struck down with absolute force!"
With that simple order, Lorgar gathered several thousand troops and marched to the rebel stronghold.
The city they occupied was called Kisla — a fortified citadel surrounded by towering walls tens of meters high, encircled by a wide moat, housing over a hundred thousand defenders armed to the teeth.
Any ordinary commander would have been daunted. But their opponent was no ordinary man — he was a Primarch.
The soldiers who followed Lorgar were prepared to die, but he didn't need them to fight. All he needed from them was to stand back and cheer — he would take the battlefield alone.
On the walls above, masses of Covenant warriors stood armed and ready. Then, like a blazing meteor, Lorgar charged.
His movement cracked the air, a sonic boom erupting the moment his feet left the ground.
A rain of arrows fell from the sky, dense as a storm, but they were meaningless against him.
Each arrow that struck Lorgar's skin bounced harmlessly away, not even leaving a white mark on his steel-hard flesh.
His speed was blinding — in mere nanoseconds, he reached the base of the wall.
Every step he took left deep craters in the earth.
When he stood before the wall, Lorgar raised his mace high. The weapon gleamed in the sunlight with an otherworldly radiance.
Without hesitation, he brought it down.
In that instant, time itself seemed to freeze.
Then came a deafening roar — the colossal wall, tens of meters high and thick, stretching for hundreds of meters, shattered as if packed with explosives.
Stone and dust exploded outward, filling the air with a storm of debris.
Lorgar hadn't even used his psychic power — only his raw strength and speed. And with that alone, he had destroyed the wall completely.
As the fortress collapsed, the screams of the Covenant followers filled the air. But Lorgar did not stop. He charged forward again and again — until the entire city of Kislev was his.